Pico de Orizaba

Day 6, Mexican Thanksgiving:
Climb Pico de Orizaba. Then drive back to Tlachichuca

Warning:
I might have made this whole trip sound
pretty easy. Be aware that people get
AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) including
HAPE and HACE at elevations well below
those climbed on this trip (if you're
not familiar with these, see the National
Institutes of Health explanation of AMS.
This trip
report of Orizaba from SummitPost
is a recent example. Don't take the altitude
lightly; we didn't and I was quite worried
about how compressed our schedule was,
despite considerable preparation before
we went. Mariel lives at 6000' and had
been regularly staying at a cabin at
8500'. And I had been above 10k every
weekend for the previous eight weeks,
as you can see on my
2008 home page. Even with our preparation,
we had the first symptoms (both headaches
and nausea).

The
evening before, all the groups
got together to discuss a schedule
for the morning. The Colorado girls
wanted to leave at 1am, so they planned
to get up at midnight.

We all hit the sack a little before
8pm and tried to sleep. On Orizaba,
as when sleeping high on Itza, both
Mariel and I woke with headaches that
were cured with ibuprofen.

When midnight came, the girls woke
everyone else up, but we expected that.
As they finished their kitchen chores
at about 12:30, I hopped up and started
our water on the stove. They were off
right at 1, and we were out the door
at 1:15, a few minutes behind Lawrence
and Oso. The Spanish team, already
established as blazing fast, was to
follow about an hour later.

We caught the girls just before the
second aqueduct, about 600' up the
hill from the hut. They were having
a blast, hooting and hollering and
laughing loudly, but not moving really
quickly.

We hit a tent at 3:30,
and the GPS says it was 15,500'. As
previously stated, the GPS put the
hut at 13,650. So with 1850' in 2.25
hours, we were climbing at about 825'
per hour. We both felt good and within
our boundaries.

When we got into the
labyrinth, I made the classic mistake
of climbing too far before putting
on the crampons. So we did a tense
little dance on a rock in the middle
of an ice patch. Then Mariel had to
start right up the steepest, hardest
snow of the day. About half way up
the first narrow, steep chute we had
to move over for the Spanish team,
who blazed by in crampons and ski poles.
As we moved higher, in some areas we
had to work around gravel spots or
rocks, trying to stay on snow the whole
way. We finally reached the top of
the labyrinth at 5:30, 16471'. The
constant navigation, fussing with gear,
extra caution and additional rests
had slowed our progress quite a bit.

As we started up the glacier, my stomach
was feeling a little strange, as was
Mariel's. I think perhaps the coffee/chocolate
mix was a bit off? So we throttled
back for a bit. Then we both started
feeling better.

On the open glacier, we could see
headlamps ahead of us, and the sun
was starting its slow trip to reach
the eastern horizon. We felt great
and were gaining on the groups ahead
of us. I was again watching the altimeter,
calculating how long it was going to
be before we reached the crater rim.
At this point, it seemed like it might
be my next lifetime.

When it finally got light enough
to take pictures, we had progressed
well up the glacier and it was getting
steeper. Note that the horizon on this
photo is a little off, and it was actually
steeper than shown, and was going to
get quite a bit steeper before we finished.
Mariel was working her axe and crampons
like a pro, but I stayed close regardless.
Hey, I'm her dad. It's my JOB
to worry about her!

This IS a glacier, but the only
thing we saw resembling a crevasse
were several cracks running across
the snow, not big enough to get your
hand into them.

However, snow climbing is all about
conditions. There are several crosses
at the top of the labyrinth commemorating
climbers who died after falling on
these same slopes. It is pretty steep,
and if icy... so we were careful as
we moved up into steepening terrain.

And then we noticed that we could
no longer see the boots of the higher
climbers. It was rolling back!

We were being treated to another
excellent day. But up here in the shade
of the north side, it was still cold.

That's Popo and Izta on the far left
horizon.

We finally hit the sunshine right
on the crater rim. There are some little
dots down low on the shadow's edge-
the two rope teams of the Colorado
girls. You can also see the Sarcophago,
the peaklet in the sun. And on the
right, you can see the roads leading
to the Piedra Grande hut. Note that
I used the zoom on this photo!

Once you hit the rim, it's 10 minutes
or so to the true summit. The ridge looks
narrow, but it wasn't bad.

Mariel was pretty happy after quickly
dispatching the narrow section. Also,
she knows that those folks in the background
are on the summit.

The GPS says we hit the summit at
8:50 am and the elevation was 18,305'.
The generally accepted height is 18,490',
which explains how some of the other
readings might have varied from the
actual (this GPS is using pressure,
not satellites).

Manuel "Lolo" Diez, guide
and adventurer from Mundo
Explora, and leader of the Spanish
team.

Below, you can see a hack panorama
I put together, which shows the crater
rim.

After reading trip reports, we had
not brought a rope. But once on the
snow, it was steeper than we expected.
On the way up, I had climbed immediately
behind Mariel in case something went
wrong, but that doesn't work on descent.
At the summit I had a discussion with
Oso and without hesitating he was kind
enough to add Mariel (middle) to their
rope and guide her down the glacier
(and the Spanish team loaned her a
harness). I highly recommend Oso to
anyone who wants a guide.

Curvature of the earth, anyone?

The snow was still quite firm on our
descent. But now that the sun was up,
it felt a lot warmer. When we were about
1000' down from the top, we passed the
Colorado girls on their way up.

When we hit the bottom of the glacier,
we could see the Colorado girls still
working toward the crater (click for
a bigger version). They all made the
summit, but were a long time behind us.

By the time we got down to the labyrinth,
Mariel was an old pro with her crampons.
This chute is around 45°, quite firm
under foot (note the lack of crampon
or ice axe penetration), and she cruised
it.

We got back to the hut
around 12:30, where we collapsed. It
had been a really good climb: we had
prepared well, we paced ourselves well,
and we had done a good job eating and
drinking. At around 16k Mariel had
a mild headache and we both had a slight
stomach problem, but that all went
away. Otherwise, no issues with altitude.

After our long drive back to Tlachichuca,
we had another excellent meal at Servimont
(and now with beers!) and then slept
like babies. Ah, oxygen.